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The international community promised this Tuesday in Paris 1,000 million euros (about 1,055 million dollars) of aid so that Ukraine can overcome the impending boreal winter after a series of Russian attacks against its civilian infrastructure.
“It is a powerful signal that the entire civilized world supports Ukraine,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said. Hours earlier, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyhad estimated the necessary emergency aid at 800 million euros.
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After the conferences in Lugano, Warsaw and Berlin, the appointment of Pariswith representatives from 70 countries and organizations, seeks to neutralize the strategy deployed since October by Russia with the purpose of making the population suffer and weakening the resistance.
“Russia acts cowardly” and “attempts to sow terror among the population” attacking civilian infrastructures, which represents “acts of war”said the French president, Emmanuel Macronat the start of the conference.
The will of the international community is to help the Ukrainians to “resist during this winter” against a Russia whose goal is “plunge[los] in the dark and in the cold”, he added.
Of the billion, 415 million euros will go to energy, 25 million to water, 38 million to food, 17 million to health, 22 million to transport and the rest is yet to be determined, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said.
The promises of aid They arrive in an energetic context”hard”, Ukrainian national operator Ukrenergo said on Tuesday. “The electricity deficit continues to be significant” and deteriorating weather conditions complicates the “distribution” Y “the work of repair crews”indicated.
The immediate objective is thus that the Ukrainian electricity network “It doesn’t sink, that we don’t have a blackout for several weeks, that the water doesn’t freeze in the pipes” because then they will be out of service “until summer”explained French diplomatic sources.
Speaking to AFP, Ukrainian Energy Minister German Halushchenko stressed that his priorities are “high voltage equipment, such as transformers (…) because they are part of the most popular targets of the Russians” in his attacks.
The Ukrainian Prime Minister announced that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) it will deploy missions to “secure” five nuclear power plants, including the one in Zaporizhia, currently under occupation by the Russian army.
China, the great absentee
China is the great absent from the meeting in Pariswhich has, on the other hand, ambassadors from the Gulf countries and from India, a symbol of solidarity that goes beyond European and North American borders.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the world Bank they were also present.
The French Ministry of the Economy is hosting a second, more bilateral part of the conference on how French companies can participate in the “resilience and reconstruction of Ukraine”.
Half a thousand French firms, from stock market giants to start-ups in the digital sector, were invited to participate in this long-term initiative.
Even if there is no ceasefire and no prospect of an end to the war, “Ukrainians asked to talk about reconstruction”, indicated the Elysium.
deep recession
The Ukrainian president reiterated his 10-point peace plan on Monday. The Russian presidency responded on Tuesday that kyiv must cede the territories whose annexation it claims Russia before any diplomatic negotiations.
Some areas impacted at the beginning of the war are already in the reconstruction phase. In addition, the works that Ukraine needs will take years.
The cost of the war for the neighboring country of Russia It is immense.
“We had stated in early September that the cost would be around $350 billion, but this will not cover more than the period from the start of the war to June 1.”said Anna Bjerd, vice president of the World Bank for Europe and Central Asia, to AFP.
A new estimate will be published “in early 2023” and will undoubtedly be higher, he warned.
The Ukrainian economy has already contracted 33% due to the war started by Moscow on February 24.
“With the recent attacks in the country, the contraction will be stronger, we can expect it to be closer to 40%,” Bjerd pointed out.
The Washington-based financial institution did not make forecasts for next year due to the “great uncertainty” of the current situation.
On Monday, the G7 leaders decided in a virtual summit to launch a “platform” to “coordinate the aid financial support to Ukraine,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced.
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Source: Elcomercio
I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.
